{"id":78211,"date":"2023-04-11T01:28:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T01:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/04\/11\/us-philippines-hold-largest-war-drills-near-disputed-waters\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:51:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:51:49","slug":"us-philippines-hold-largest-war-drills-near-disputed-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2023\/04\/11\/us-philippines-hold-largest-war-drills-near-disputed-waters\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Philippines hold largest war drills near disputed waters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MANILA, Philippines \u2014 The United States and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/02\/08\/a-return-to-the-philippines\/\" target=\"_blank\">Philippines<\/a> on Tuesday launch their largest combat exercises in decades that will involve live-fire drills, including a boat-sinking rocket assault in waters across the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait that will likely inflame China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/04\/05\/big-balikatan-annual-us-philippines-exercise-to-be-bigger-than-ever\/\" target=\"_blank\">annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan<\/a> \u2014 Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder \u2014 will run up to April 28 and involve more than 17,600 military personnel. It will be the latest display of American firepower in Asia, where Washington has repeatedly warned China over its increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed sea channel and against Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/04\/05\/big-balikatan-annual-us-philippines-exercise-to-be-bigger-than-ever\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7123910.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Big Balikatan: Annual US-Philippines exercise to be bigger than ever<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Nearly double the number of troops will take part in the annual exercise this month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in a possible confrontation over Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That dovetails with efforts by the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea by boosting joint military exercises with the U.S. and allowing rotating batches of American forces to stay in more&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2023\/04\/03\/philippines-names-4-new-camps-for-us-forces-amid-china-fury\/\" target=\"_blank\">Philippine military camps<\/a>&nbsp;under a 2014 defense pact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 12,200 U.S military personnel, 5,400 Filipino forces and 111 Australian counterparts are taking part in the exercises, the largest in Balikatan\u2019s three-decade history. America\u2019s warships, fighter jets as well as its Patriot missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers and anti-tank Javelins, would be showcased, according to U.S. and Philippine military officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are not provoking anybody by simply exercising,\u201d Col. Michael Logico, a Philippine spokesman for Balikatan, told reporters ahead of the start of the maneuvers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is actually a form of deterrence,\u201d Logico said. \u201cDeterrence is when we are discouraging other parties from invading us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5633\" height=\"4024\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23082190720937.jpg_7ccbc7.jpg\" alt=\"In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius steams in the Philippine Sea, on March 13, 2023.\" class=\"wp-image-107605\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23082190720937.jpg_7ccbc7.jpg 5633w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23082190720937.jpg_7ccbc7.jpg?resize=300,214 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23082190720937.jpg_7ccbc7.jpg?resize=768,549 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23082190720937.jpg_7ccbc7.jpg?resize=1024,732 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23082190720937.jpg_7ccbc7.jpg?resize=1536,1097 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23082190720937.jpg_7ccbc7.jpg?resize=2048,1463 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 5633px) 100vw, 5633px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius steams in the Philippine Sea, on March 13, 2023. (MCS1 Greg Johnson\/Navy via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a live-fire drill the allied forces would stage offshore for the first time, Logico said U.S. and Filipino forces would sink a 200-foot (61-meter) target vessel in Philippine territorial waters off the western province of Zambales this month in a coordinated airstrike and artillery bombardment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe will hit it with all the weapons systems that we have, both ground, navy and air,\u201d Logico said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That location facing the South China Sea and across the waters from the Taiwan Strait would likely alarm China, but Philippine military officials said the maneuver was aimed at bolstering the country\u2019s coastal defense and was not aimed at any country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such field scenarios would \u201ctest the allies\u2019 capabilities in combined arms live-fire, information and intelligence sharing, communications between maneuver units, logistics operations, amphibious operations,\u201d the U.S. Embassy in Manila said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over the long-seething territorial disputes involving China, the Philippines and four other governments and Beijing\u2019s goal of annexing Taiwan, by force if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China last week warned against the intensifying U.S. military deployment to the region. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a regular news briefing in Beijing that it \u201cwould only lead to more tensions and less peace and stability in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Balikatan exercises were opening in the Philippines a day after&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/china-military-taiwan-us-7549c646a377f1f199d2cda983573279\">China<\/a>&nbsp;concluded three days of combat drills that simulated sealing off Taiwan, following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen\u2019s meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week in California that infuriated Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, the U.S. 7th Fleet deployed guided-missile destroyer USS Milius within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, a Manila-claimed coral outcrop which China seized in the mid-1990s and turned into one of seven missile-protected island bases in the South China Sea\u2019s hotly contested Spratlys archipelago. The U.S. military has been undertaking such \u201cfreedom of navigation\u201d operations for years to challenge China\u2019s expansive territorial claims in the busy seaway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all,\u201d the 7th Fleet said. \u201cNo member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan will run up to April 28 and involve more than 17,600 military 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US, Philippines hold largest war drills near disputed waters - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan will run up to April 28 and involve more than 17,600 military personnel.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US, Philippines hold largest war drills near disputed waters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan will run up to April 28 and involve more than 17,600 military personnel.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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